Wall structure having prefab joist sections



Jan. 25, 1966 ROSENFELD 3,230,679

WALL STRUCTURE HAVING PREFAB JOIST SECTIONS Filed March 25, 1962 HHH [P u u o INVENTOR.

4 5o BIORTON M. ROSENFELD ATTORNEY United States Patent f) WALL .STRUCTUREHAVENG' PREFAB JOIST" SECTIONS Morton M.- Rosenfeld; Mount'vernon, N:Y"; (271 MadisflllAve- NeW'Y-ork, N'.Y..) FiledtMar.:23,'196'2,: S'er. N0.-181,978

3 Claims. (Cl. 52-293) This invention. .relates .toa :wall. structure, and more particularly, to awallstructurehaving internalt'reinforcementin th'eform of prefab joistsections.-

The .wall structure: of the. presentinventionis particularly suitable forerection within. enclosed. structures suchasbasementsof;buildiugs,. mines,..vaults, etc., where the erection- .of walls capable of .withstanding; heavyv loads isdesirable. Thewall structureof thepresent; invention isv readily adaptable -for erection .within confined quarters q and. is... economically, attractive as' comparedwith; wall structures proposed heretofore. The.,. wall. structure. of.

thepresent invention v.williprovide a. stronger. wall having the .abilitytowithstand pressures of approximately 2,000-

pounds. pen square. foot .or. more In. comparison,, the

wall structures proposed. heretofore suchfas thereinforcement structures: inbuildings shaving heavy machinery or the like, the design load'for such structures is only ap; proximately 250..pounds. per .squarefoot.

Inorder to. provide an internally .reinforced wall struc- I turea-capable. of .being, erected in..confined quarters; the present .invention contemplates utilization. of prefab verticaLjoist sections. Each joistnsection-includes :a header and a base fixedly interconnected by-upright reinforce.- mentv members. The"reinforcement-members may be pairs of spaced.rodsinterconnected withbracing or the like. present invention, the; prefab sections-will bepositioned inethe-planeof the..wall..to be. constructed... Thereafter,

the wall is constructed-in accordance with-any,one. of

a variety of conventionalmanners with or without the use of overlappingblocks. Theblocks are. provided with hollow cores adapted to accommodate the upright reinforcement members.

In constru'cting'awalbas per thepresent invention, it-is preferable'tohse a form againstwhich theblocks. will-be positionedthereby assuring thatall blocks .will lie'in the same plane: Since the prcfabupright joistv sections will be' inthe nature of;a skeleton, a. novicemay, readily construct a"properly v orientated Iwall within. a minimum'arrrount'of'time. The prefabsections are capable of being made in a variety; of i'siz'es and weights. I have found that the preferredsize isapproxirnately 32 inches square and has a weightv of approximately 85 pounds. The weight of the sections may be varied by varying the materials from which the sections are constructed.

It is an object of -the :present invention toprovide'a novel wall structure internally reinforced by prefab up; right joist sections.

It is another of the present invention to providea novel method for rapidly. constructing an internally, reinforced wall structure. 4

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel wall structure utilizing prefab sections and blocks having mortar between juxtaposed faces.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel wall structure which may be readily erected by a novice While at the same time incorporating internal reinforcement which facilitates proper orientation of blocks with respect to each other.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention there is shown in the drawings forms which are presently When constructinga wall. in accordance with the a e masts 1C The wall. structure 1th is erected on... asupport surface;

11. which may be a-floor one-building; .a-foundation-,u.etc.

The wall.-structure-.asindicatedin FIGURE l-is, partially constructed andzincludes a firstqcourse 12.:anda-second. c0urse-14.-. Th6-COll-l'S6S'-12-.fll'ld Mrare pneferablycon structed fromz overlapping building blocks lawns mortar l8-between juxtaposed. faces 0fZ the: blocks in. the. same.

and adj acentcoursesr Aplurality; ofprefab. uprightijoist sections EllGzPIOVldBd within the'plane of-sthewall to beconstructedz; As illustrated in FIGURE 1, sections 20: and 1 22' are; disposed adjacent one. another'in rthe plane'of the, wall 111i Other sectionswi-ll be disposed. alongside and on-topof the sections 2i .-and: 22. All -.of the prefabjoist sections"arev identical. in detail.

As shown more clearlyin FIGURE-S12 andv 3, the .prefabjoist section..20-,-ineludes. a header M and. a base 26 interconnected. by upright pairs of 1 reinforcement members 28,.- 36); and 32. A- larger or: smaller number of.

pairs of reinforcement: members. may be provided as. desired. The: pair of.reinforcernent members 28 arcinterconnected'. by bracing; 29/ Likewise, the 'pair. of: reinforcement members 30; are interconnected by bracing 31. and theupairof reinforcement membersBZ are inter+ connected by bracing 33.

The pair of 1 reinforcement members 1 28: are..provided with flanged ends -.connected to straps 34 and ".34'. strap .34- is secured to the'base 26vandrthe strap 34 is secured .to-the header24; The pair of reinforcement members Stiaarelikewiseiinterconnectedrwith straps: 36- and 361. Also, the. pair of reinforcement members 32 are interconnected with straps 38 and 38". The reinforcement membersare preferably: made from a-reinforcing material having-.sufiicienttstrength characteristics I;prefe'r The header of. the header24-and-base 26:.may be slightly. less :than... thewidth'of thewallilha ThBwthlCkIlBSS'Of the header" 24. andbase.26-m-ay approximate the thickness of the mortarbetweenadjacent'courses. Hence, the side faces ofstheiheader andbase: ofeach section may-bepointed' in,-a, conventionalmanner so-as. toconceal the sections; thereby providing a wall structure which is reinforced in a manner which is not readily ascertainable.

A form 40 is preferably juxtaposed to a side face of the various prefab joist sections. The form 40 may be maintained in an upright disposition by means of brackets 42 which releasably secure the form 40 to the joist sections. A bolt 44 may extend through the form 40 and be threadedly secured to the brackets 42.

The wall 10 is preferably constructed from blocks 16 as illustrated in FIGURE 4. The blocks 16 are generally E-sha-ped and have a center leg 46 and end legs 48 and 50. The blocks 16 may be constructed from a wide va- Pafent-ed. Jan. 25, 1.966

Accordingly, only sectionx2iii will bexdescribed The s riety of materials including cinders, concrete, etc. Preferably the blocks 16 are provided with dimensions which are multiples of the size of the prefab joist sections. For example, if blocks eight inches high are utilized, the distance between the base 26 and header 24 may be thirtyfour inches thereby accommodating four courses of blocks and four one-half inch layers of mortar 18. Depending upon the circumstances and environment in which the wall 1 is to be constructed, the size of the blocks and prefab joist sections may be varied as desired.

The wall 10 may be constructed as follows:

A supporting surface 11 which may be floor, a foundation, or the like is provided in the area in which the wall I 10 is to be constructed. A plurality of prefab joist sections are positioned in the plane of the wall which is to be constructed. Preferably, the base on the lowermost row of prefab joist sections is anchored to the supporting surface 11. The header on each section in the uppermost row of prefab joist sections may be fixedly secured to an upper limiting surface such as a ceiling or the like. If desired, the intermediate rows of prefab joist sections may be interconnected with one another by conventional fastening means. Thereafter, the forms 40 are releasably secured along one side of the various prefab joist sections.

At this point, it will be noted that a skeleton of the wall has been constructed. A layer or mortar l8 may be provided on the base 26 of each section, thereafter the first course 12 of the blocks 16 will be positioned with mortar 18 between juxtaposed faces of the blocks 16.

The blocks 16 will be positioned so that each of its legs 46-50 will be disposed between adjacent ones of the pairs of reinforcement members. The second course 14 will be provided in a manner so that the blocks overlap the blocks in course 12 while at the same time each of the legs 46-50 on the blocks will be disposed between one of the pairs of upright reinforcing members. As the blocks,

16 are placed in position, they are pushed to the rear against the form 40. Hence, the form 40 acts as a limit stop thereby assuring that all of the blocks in the various courses of wall 10 will lie in the same plane.

When the desired height of the wall 10 has been atthe blocks 16 and preferably should remain in its upright disposition until the filler material has hardened.

The wall 10 may be a foundation for a building, a wall of a bomb shelter, or a reinforcement structure for buildings adapted to contain heavy machinery. The wall 10 is preferably constructed in a manner so that the surface thereof illustrated in FIGURE 1 is the exposed surface. This exposed surface offers little or no indication that the wall is internally reinforced or that prefab joist sections were utilized in the construction of the same. Where desired, apertures or windows of a limited size may be provided in the wall 10 by utilizing a prefab joist section which lacks a middle pair of reinforcement 4 members. In this manner, it will be noted that the prefab joist sections of the present invention will eliminate the necessity for providing a window opening header in the wall to support the weight of the blocks above the window opening.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A wall construction comprising a plurality of prefabricated joist sections, said joist sections comprising a horizontal base member and a horizontal header memher, said base and header members interconnected in spaced relationship by a plurality of vertical rods, said rods being arranged in longitudinally spaced pairs, the bars of each pair being disposed in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the joist section with said pair of bars being interconnected by. a' plurality of bracing rods, and a plurality of building blocks connected to the pre-fabricated joist sections, said building blocks comprising a substantially planar facing wall and a plurality of legs extending from one side of said facing wall and normal thereto, forming channels on one side of said building block, each of said channels receiving one of said pairs of vertical rods therein and a cementitious material filling the channels and embedding the vertical rods there- 2. A wall construction in accordance with claim 1 wherein the distance between said header and base of each joist section is related to the height of said building blocks so that an integral number of courses of said building blocks may be provided between said base and header at each section.

3. A .wall construction in accordance with claim 2 wherein said base and header members each have a horizontal width less than said building blocks and a vertical thickness corresponding to mortared joints between said courses of blocks, wherein said members may be hidden within said wall by a mortared joist.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 716,029 12/ 1902 Giletti 52293 791,291 5/ 1905 Roberts 52490 1,183,410 5/1916 Taussig 52-440 1,353,702 9/ 1920 Aschauer 52--281 2,116,946 5/ 1938 Huntington 52303 2,810,166 10/1957 Nelsson 52-479 2,912,850 11/1959 Houlding 52-356 FOREIGN PATENTS 107,915 7/ 1939 Australia. 163,275 6/1949 Austria.

OTHER REFERENCES Engineering News Record, vol. 82, No. 16, page 778; Apr. 17, 1919 (copy in Scientific Library).

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM I..MUSHAKE, HENRY C. SUTHERLAND,

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiners. 

1. A WALL CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF PREFABRICATED JOIST SECTIONS, SAID JOIST SECTIONS COMPRISING HORIZONTAL BASE MEMBER AND A HORIZONTAL HEADER MEMBER, SAID BASE AND HEADER MEMBERS INTERCONNECTED IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP BY A PLURALITY OF VERTICAL RODS, SAID RODS BEING ARRANGED IN LONGITUDINALLY SPACED PAIRS, SAID BARS OF EACH PAIR BEING DISPOSED IN A PLANE NORMAL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE JOIST SECTION WITH SAID PAIR OF BARS BEING INTERCONNECTED BY A PLURALITY OF BRACING RODS, AND A PLURALITY OF BUILDING BLOCKS CONNECTED TO THE PRE-FABRICATED JOIST SECTIONS AND BUILDING BLOCKS COMPRIING A SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR FACING WALL AND A PLURALITY OF LEGS EXTENDING FROM ONE SIDE OF SAID FACING WALL AND NORMAL THERETO, FORMING CHANNELS ON ONE SIDE OF SAID BUIDLING BLOCK, EACH OF SAID CHANNEL RECEIVING ONE OF SAID PAIRS OF VERTICAL RODS THEREIN AND A CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL FILLING THE CHANNELS AND EMBEDDING THE VERTICAL RODS THEREIN. 